Oct. 21--The Port of Astoria's former director improperly used his position to secure work for his girlfriend in 2004 with a company seeking to build a liquefied natural gas terminal near Astoria, the Oregon attorney general's office said today.

Weeks later, Peter Gearin, the executive director, advocated leasing 92 acres to the company without telling Port commissioners about the connection between his girlfriend, who was also working for the Port, and Calpine, the company seeking to build the terminal, investigation documents show.

The attorney general's office, which investigated at the request of the Clatsop County district attorney, said it could prove Gearin committed official misconduct in securing public relations work for Susan Trabucco, now his wife. The office declined to prosecute because the two-year statute of limitations on the class A misdemeanor has expired.

But the findings could complicate the contentious fight over liquid natural gas along the Columbia River, where two companies -- including Calpine's successor on the lease, Oregon LNG -- are seeking to build LNG terminals despite strong opposition from environmental groups and others.

The findings could affect lawsuits the Port and Oregon LNG have filed against each other over a 30-year lease extension, which the company needs to continue its pursuit of an LNG terminal in Warrenton. If the lease were deemed fraudulent, the Port could have legal grounds to break it.

Critics have long argued that the lease terms Gearin arranged with Calpine were too generous. Josh Marquis, Clatsop County's district attorney, said he requested the investigation in 2006 after hearing allegations of improprieties in the Port's issuance of the lease.

Adding to the intrigue: Gearin was convicted earlier this year of a felony violation of the Clean Water Act in an unrelated case over Port dredging activities. And Attorney General John Kroger, whose office picked up the lease investigation this August after it stalled under Kroger's predecessor, campaigned earlier this year against siting LNG terminals in Oregon.

Robert Calo, Gearin's attorney, questioned Kroger's decision to release a decline-to-prosecute letter and details of the investigation when no charges were filed.

"There was no impropriety by Mr. Gearin or his wife or anyone else involved," Calo said. "We are very disappointed that somebody chose to put a letter into the public realm declining an investigation but still casting aspersions on Mr. Gearin."

Kroger's spokesman, Tony Green, said Kroger's opposition to LNG terminals did not influence the decision to pursue the Gearin case.